Consider supporting @Michigansierra and make sure you read this Press Release and share it. Court Asked to Strike Permit For Plant Dubbed ‘Worst Polluter’ Legal challenge to ‘undue influence,’ clean air law violations DEARBORN, MI -- Citizens groups have filed a legal challenge in Wayne County Circuit Court to a controversial state Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) air permit decision that would increase air pollution at a Dearborn steel plant located near a residential area where pollution is already the highest in the state. The groups, representing residents of the area and environmentalists, asked the court to strike down the permit for Severstal, Inc., citing provisions of the federal Clean Air Act and actions allowing a state business-promoting agency to intervene with environmental regulators involved in the permit decision. The lawsuit comes amid news today that Severstal has reportedly been sold to AK Steel, a corporation based in West Chester, Ohio. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) became involved in the permit decision following a visit to the 350-acre plant by its director and Gov. Rick Snyder, who met with top Severstal officials. Severstal, which a DEQ regulator had called the state’s worst air polluter, was subsequently granted a permit in May that allows the factory to continue polluting at levels that had already been cited more than 30 times in clean air enforcement actions by the DEQ. “The decision to grant this permit to pollute violates the Clean Air Act and means families living in Dearborn and Detroit will be breathing more toxic air for years to come,” said Rhonda Anderson, Sierra Club’s senior Detroit organizer. The South Dearborn Environmental Improvement Association, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, and the Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit, along with Sierra Club, filed the legal challenge. “We are doing this for our kids and our grandkids,” said South Dearborn Environmental Improvement Association board member Abdo Bapacker. “Many families in the South End are sick from breathing polluted air.” “It’s outrageous and just wrong to put a corporate polluters interest ahead of public health,” said Tyrone Carter, President of the Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit. “There are kids growing up and going to school within sight of this plant who deserve and have a right to be protected from harmful pollution by a company that makes millions of dollars in profits but won’t be required to comply with clean air laws.” Pollution violations at the plant and the questionable permit process have been the focus of an ongoing Detroit Free Press investigation where it was revealed that the MEDC had been involved in an increasingly aggressive lobbying effort on behalf of Severstal to win approval of a clean air permit on terms agreeable to Severstal officials. “The grant of this permit by the state was hugely disappointing considering the facility’s poor compliance history and the harmful and disproportionate health and environmental effects the plant’s emissions continue to have on neighboring communities,” said Stephanie Karisny, Staff Attorney at the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center representing Sierra Club, Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit, and Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice. “We knew we needed to take action.” The lawsuit, Wayne County Circuit Court Case No. 14-008887-AA, has been assigned to Judge Robert L. Ziolkowski. ### About the Sierra Club The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters nationwide, and over 150,000 in Michigan. In addition to creating opportunities for people of all ages, levels and locations to have meaningful outdoor experiences, the Sierra Club works to safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and litigation. For more information, visit sierraclub.org.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 17:22:22 +0000
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